


Monarch

by Cornerverse



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: All of the reveals tbh, Canon has been taken out back and shot, Characters and ships to be added as it progresses but pretty much everyone shows up, Chloé Bourgeois Redemption, Chloé is Adrien's friend and cares about him and his family change my mind, Identity Reveal, Lila Rossi's Lies Are Exposed, Love Eater Spoilers, Swearing, everyone loves and respects Marinette, now with more salt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2020-03-21
Packaged: 2021-01-13 14:10:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21035639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cornerverse/pseuds/Cornerverse
Summary: Hawkmoth had offered her chance to be Queen Bee once more, but at the cost of betraying her friends.Everyone knows the old saying. "Float like a Butterfly, Sting like a Bee". Perhaps Chloé Bourgeois can do both.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> If you haven't watched Love Eater, then be warned for spoilers. This takes place as an alternate ending.

“Pollen, Buzz On!”

Chloé felt the familiar tingle of Magic wash over her as she transformed into Queen Bee. Silently, she apologized to Pollen, hoping she could hear her through the transformation.

Queen Bee looked up at Hawkmoth, staring him down. The action felt somehow familiar, but she couldn’t yet place it.

“Release my parents,” Queen Bee demanded. “Now.”

He smiled at her, snapping his fingers. The Butterfly was recalled, leaving her parents to be dropped and saved by Ladybug.

Hawkmoth began to speak again, but Chloé didn’t listen. She waited, keeping his gaze and letting the rage inside her build. As the wave of the Miraculous Ladybug disappeared, she moved her hand to the top at her waist.

“Venom!” She shouted.

That took Hawkmoth by surprise. He dodged, Queen Bee’s top barely grazing his arm, but it was all she needed. There he was, paralyzed. And Queen Bee felt triumph well up in her.

“Guess Ladybug was right to trust me,” Queen Bee laughed. “Let’s see who the hell you are!”

The Butterfly Miraculous was easy to access, a brooch on his chest. The moment she pulled it off of him, his transformation fell. She watched with dawning horror as the purple suit dissolved, leaving red and white in its place.

She felt like the world slowed down as she found herself staring at an all too familiar face. All she could do was cover her mouth in an attempt not to scream, but she still felt tears in her eyes.

It made too much sense, now that she was literally staring him in the face. There’d always been something familiar about Hawkmoth. She brushed it off as part of his Magic, something to make Akumas more likely to give in to him.

And his motive was obvious. Why else would he have done any of this? The worst part was, knowing that, she almost wanted to change her mind and help him for real. But she couldn’t.

The sound of heels running toward her snapped her out of it. Looking past him, she saw Mayura.

Queen Bee heard her Miraculous beep. Four minutes left on her transformation. Four minutes left until Venom wears off. If Mayura traps her in a fight, she couldn’t take her as ‘Chloé’. Her left hand tightened around the Butterfly Miraculous.

So she ran.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slight trigger warning, but don't read if you want to be surprised because it spoils the end of the chapter.   
-  
This does involve Chloé throwing herself off a building that she acknowledges would kill a person. Of course she has a plan to, you know, not die. But it might be triggering so I figured I should say it.

Queen Bee threw her top to the next building, and then the one after that. Swinging through the city.

A quick look over her shoulder told her that Mauyra was still following. She didn’t risk another glance. Instead, she debated over where to head. Where would Ladybug go after the fight? Should she try and lose Mayura first? Or risk leading her to Ladybug?

She barely had time to register the beeps from her Miraculous as she leaped to the next rooftop. The transformation dropped, and Chloé swore as she landed hard. No more Magic suit to protect her.

Her arms and knees were scraped, and she was pretty sure there would be a few bruises forming. But she pulled herself to her feet. Looking around, she found Pollen on the ground and quickly scooped her up, hugging her close.

“I’m so sorry, Pollen,” Chloé cried.

“I know, My Queen,” Pollen replied. “I knew you wouldn’t give in to him!”

“I don’t have anything to recharge you with,” she said. “Any chance there’s some loophole where you can transform me for a little longer?”

“I’m sorry,” she shook her head. “It could damage your Miraculous. And using a damaged Miraculous is dangerous!”

A pit of dread hit as Mayura caught up, now standing between Chloé and the door that led down into the building. The fire escape was on that side too. Damn it! She held Pollen closer, letting the Kwami settle into the pocket inside her jacket.

“Chloé,” Mayura said. “You to give that Miraculous back.”

“Sorry, Nathalie, but that’s not happening!” Chloé replied.

The villain seemed a little surprised that her identity had been guessed. It was obvious now. There were only two women close enough to Gabriel Agreste to have helped him become Hawkmoth. And with Emilie missing, likely his motive for all of this, it left Nathalie.

“Now you know,” Mayura sighed. “If you know, why won’t you help us?”

“Help you terrorize all of Paris?” Chloé scoffed. “Never. Never again!”

“You won’t have to,” she said. “As soon as we have Ladybug and Chat Noir’s Miraculous, this will be over. We’re not in this to terrorize the city. Gabriel just wants to save Emilie. Don’ t you want that?”

“Not like this!” she snapped. “Do you have any idea what it’s like? Becoming Akumatized? Hurting people you care about? I could’ve killed my dad! Or Adrien and Sabrina! I could’ve-”

She stopped, not wanting to say more. There were more people she cared about now, even if she refused to show it. To scared and torn over what she wanted to do anything about it.

“We won’t Akumatize you again,” Mayura offered. “Join us as Queen Bee. You care for Adrien. Don’t you want to help him see his mother again?”

God it was so tempting. Not just for Adrien, but herself. She missed Emilie too. She didn’t know why or how she disappeared, though now she suspected the Miraculous to have something to do with it. And if the Ladybug and Black Cat could fix this, how perfect would that be? Emilie would be back, and the Akumas would stop. It would be so easy. 

She couldn’t. Not like this. She loved Emilie. She loved Adrien. Hell, she loved Gabriel and Nathalie too, even with all of this.

As she studied Mayura, looking for an opening, the villain suddenly staggered. That was strange, to say the least. Was she sick? Adrien had mentioned how Nathalie had been getting dizzy spells lately.

Chloé could use this as a distraction. Sprint past her to the roof door. But what if it was a trick? Mayura could just be pretending, hoping to distract Chloé and make her let her guard down. If she tried for the door, Mayura would grab her and it'd all be over. 

Not wanting to take the chance, she looked for other ways. There wasn’t anything on the roof she could throw at her. And looking over the edge showed far too high of a drop for her to survive.

It was then that she remembered the brooch still held tightly in her left hand. Eyeing the drop again, she pinned it to her shirt. A lavender Kwami appeared in a flash of light. They were disoriented, but quickly seemed to understand the situation. Mayura saw it too, trying to figure out what her plan was.

“Do you have enough energy to transform me?” Chloé asked.

“Y-yes,” the Kwami said. “You say ‘Nooroo, Dark Wings Rise’.”

Chloé nodded, eyeing that drop again. She stepped up on the edge, watching Mayura’s shock as she realized too late. The Villain rushed forward to grab her, but Chloé let herself fall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I did watch Miracle Queen. And while Idk what the translation is, from what I gather it's 'Chloé's character development found dead in Miami'. 
> 
> I was planning on continuing this anyway, but now it's being done out of spite.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did decide to draw Butterfly!Chloé, so here: https://cornerverse.tumblr.com/post/188349927209/i-am-monarch-so-this-isnt-exactly-a-spoiler

“Nooroo, Dark Wings Rise!”

The Butterfly transformation felt a little different from the Bee. Softer, somehow. The cane appeared in her hands, and she held tight as she continued to fall, bracing herself for impact.

Eventually she hit the ground, rolling again. That was a lot more painful than she had hoped for. The suit kept her from dying or breaking anything, but it still hurt like hell.

Several civilians looked on in alarm, torn between wanting to help the girl who fell off a building, and the fear that she might be another Akuma. Chloé looked up to the roof, and found Mayura staring after her, relieved she wasn’t dead.

Mayura looked dizzy again, and suddenly it was Nathalie looking down at her instead. Chloé wasn’t sure why she’d detransformed, but she took the chance. While Mayura could jump across rooftops, Nathalie would have to take the stairs.

Chloé was several blocks away when she stopped and gasped for breath. Trying to collect her thoughts, she looked at her outfit. She had a white dress shirt, a deep purple waistcoat and pants. Her fingerless gloves and her shoes were black,

A look at a store window showed her mask was shaped like a butterfly in that same purple. Her lipstick was purple too. Even her hairstyle had changed, the front hanging and framing her face, but the back was gathered and pinned into a low ponytail by the Bee Miraculous.

“Fuck!” Chloé exclaimed. “Pollen! Where-”

“I’m here!” Pollen’s voice piped up.

She found Pollen on her shoulder. It looked as if the Kwami had been hiding in her hair. Not the best hiding spot, but she didn’t have any pockets big enough for her.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” Chloé sighed.

“Are you okay?” Pollen asked.

“I… I will be,” she swallowed. “For now, I need to find someone.”

Her luck seemed to be going strong, as she watched the exact person she needed to find walk quickly past her on the opposite side of the street, and into the park. Steeling her nerves, Chloé gave chase.

The girl stopped at the carousel, which was completely trashed. She pulled out her phone and called someone, too worried about whoever she was supposed to meet to notice Chloé yet.

“Marinette!” Chloé shouted.

As the girl turned, she looked surprised, but ready to fight. And honestly, Chloé couldn’t blame her. It had to be the power of the Butterfly, but she could feel the emotions pouring off her. Confusion, fear, guilt, heartbreak, stress. And of course, need to help. To save people. Selfless love.

“Who are you?” Marinette demanded. “What do you want?”

“I...” Chloé tried to say, her words getting caught in her mouth. “I don’t know where to start.”

Marinette’s stance seemed to relax a little. Just in time for someone else to run up. This boy was someone a little older than them. From the hair dye, painted nails, and Jagged Stone shirt, he was obviously some rock and roll guy. He was kinda cute, and a little familiar, though she couldn't quite place where she'd seen him before. 

Whoever Mystery Boy was, he seemed intent on protecting Marinette, putting himself between the girls. The emotions she could read from both of them held familiarity, a hint of romantic interest, but above all, a need to protect.

“Who are you?” Chloé asked.

“Could ask you the same thing,” Mystery Boy said. “Aren’t Akumas usually loud about that?”

“I’m not an Akuma,” she said, shrinking back from the wave of Protection coming off of him.

“Are you just a cosplayer?” Marinette asked.

“Er, no,” she sighed. “Ugh. I should’ve asked how to detransform. Anyone got any ideas?”

Marinette and Mystery Boy just stared at her, confused and still wary. As Chloé floundered, she heard Pollen whisper in her ear.

“Dark Wings Fall.”

As the transformation dropped, so did Chloé. She pitched forward, the other two catching her before she fully collapsed. They helped her down gently, until all three were sitting on the ground.

“Chloé?” Marinette asked. “What the hell happened to you?”

“So much,” Chloé answered. “It feels like it’s been hours, but I think it was just fifteen minutes. Fuck. We need to get somewhere safe. Mayura’s probably still looking for me. I can’t...”

Her mind was still reeling from all of it. Tears started up again as the full weight of everything dropped onto her. She’d call this a bad dream, but the ache in her body answered that. This was reality, and she had to face it.

“Chloé, it’s okay,” Marinette said. “Start from the beginning.”

“Not until we’re safe,” Chloé said. “Actually, I need two things.”

“One is a bandage,” Mystery Boy said, inspecting the scrapes on Chloé’s arms.

“Three things,” she corrected, almost laughing at his concern. “I need Marinette to ‘rally the troops’, and a safe spot for all of us to meet.”

“Rally the troops?” Marinette repeated. “Chloé, what’s going on?”

“The final battle, I hope,” she sighed. “I… I know who Hawkmoth is. And I know about you too. Don’t even defend yourself from that. I’ve known since I got Pollen and realized how familiar she was to that toy you had.”

That got a reaction. Marinette’s expression darkened. The tiny bit of doubt over her identity disappeared when she saw her shift mindsets. She was Ladybug, with or without the mask. And that realization seemed to hit Mystery Boy too.

“Are you sure?” Marinette asked.

“Took this off him,” Chloé said, pointing to the Butterfly Miraculous. “That’s what the, uh, costume was. Had to use it to escape Mayura.”

“Right,” Marinette nodded. “But… we don’t have that many Miraculous. There aren’t any ‘troops’ to rally.”

“I have an idea,” she said. “Just gather everyone. Adrien, Kagami, Alya and Nino. Rockstar here can help too.”

“Luka,” Mystery Boy corrected, finally finding his voice again.

“Glad to meet you,” she said. “Just get anyone who wants to fight Hawkmoth. The more the better.”

Luka helped them up, and Marinette lead the way, already texting for a meet up. She convinced them to stop for a minute, letting her buy some honey for Pollen. After asking Nooroo what he liked, she grabbed a few fruit juices as well. Marinette decided to let Longg out as well, and they grabbed something for him.

The Kwami decided to hide in Marinette’s purse. Apparently it was a bit crowded in there, but they wanted to hug the hell out of Nooroo. No one could blame them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chloé being the one to figure out everyone's identity is honestly my signature trope by now. Honestly if you see me writing Chloé, just assume she knows nearly everyone's identity.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Featuring: Lila getting called the fuck out, Angry!Adrien helping with that, a Reveal, and everyone being 110% down to commit a murder!

It hadn’t even been an hour since Chloé had been back at the hotel, yet by the time the trio got to the school, their entire class had shown up. Adrien and Kagami had just walked to the group when they’d gotten there.

As soon as they were in sight, both Sabrina and Adrien ran to Chloé, worried about how bad she looked. She couldn’t blame them. If she had time, she’d go get cleaned up. Brush her hair and wash old tear tracks off her face and reapply her makeup. Get her scrapes patched up a bit more. 

But while there wasn’t time for that, there was time for dealing with something else.

“What the hell is she doing here?” Chloé demanded, throwing a glare at Lila.

“I didn’t invite her,” Marinette muttered.

“I’m sorry,” Lila sighed dramatically. “I didn’t mean to make you so mad!”

That got the class’s attention. Most of them rushed to assure her that no, Chloé was just ‘like that’. It wasn’t her fault! Of course she was innocent!

“Whatever,” Chloé said. “I’m not calling her out because I’m a bitch. I’m calling her out because I sure as hell don’t trust her with what’s about to happen.”

“Trust her?” Alya asked. “What are you going on about?”

“A lot of things,” Marinette said. “Something Miraculous-related. And I don’t think Lila should be here either.”

“Why not?” Rose asked. “If it’s Miraculous related, shouldn’t she be here? Lila is Ladybug’s best friend! If we need her, she can call and get help!”

“Exactly,” Lila grinned. “Ladybug always comes when I ask her to!”

“Ridiculous,” Chloé huffed. “I don’t have time for this. Adrien, help me out here! I know you're not falling for any to this!”

The whole class looked to him, and Chloé kinda regretted putting him on the spot. Then, she saw the awkward expression harden. She flinched, not just at the almost uncharacteristic wave of rage and disgust coming off of him.

No, it was because as much as Adrien resembled Emilie, there were times when he channeled Gabriel just as much. Angry!Adrien was rarely ever seen, but he could be cold and calculating, yet feral at the same time. And Chloé knew to expect him tearing her apart. 

“I agree with Chloé and Marinette,” Adrien stated, much to the confusion of the rest of the class. “Considering I know for a fact that Lila isn’t Ladybug’s friend.”

“Of course I am!” Lila grinned. “You’re not saying I’m lying, are you?”

“Yes, I am,” he snapped. “I let it go before, because I thought you were just the verbal equivalent of a clickbait article. A walking tabloid magazine. I wanted to give you a chance. And by the time I figured out you didn’t deserve it, only option I had was the deal with the devil.”

“Deal with the devil?”Marinette asked.

“Yeah,” he admitted, giving her a sheepish grin. “Why do you think she suddenly decided to get you un-expelled? Not sure what she said, since she wasn’t expelled instead, but-”

“Oh, that makes a lot more sense,” she sighed. “Lila told Principal Damocles that she ‘has a rare disease that makes her lie’.”

“I think the technical term is ‘pathological liar’,” Chloé mused.

“Quite true,” Adrien agreed. “It’s quite convenient that all of her lies are things that either make her look amazing, or make Marinette look bad. Seems like a very ‘targeted’ disease, doesn’t it?”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Nino demanded.

“Lila being a liar,” Kagami answered.

“Marinette!” Lila whined, starting up fake tears. “What did you tell him?”

“She didn’t tell me anything,” Adrien said. “I figured it out when you tried to tell me that a necklace from my father’s collection was actually the Fox Miraculous and a family heirloom, thinking I wouldn’t recognize it. Ladybug showing up and calling you a liar was just the icing on the cake.”

That got the class whispering again. Chloé wasn’t that surprised to see Alya and Nino stiffen at the comment. After all, she knew exactly who Ladybug would’ve given the real Fox to.

“Marinette,” Chloé said. “I think this needs some concrete proof, don’t you think?”

“I- I can’t,” Marinette said, catching on to what she meant. “It’s bad enough that you know. And you already told Luka.”

“What’d you tell Luka?” Juleka asked.

“Look,” Chloé sighed. “I get it. It’s a secret to protect people. But it’s hurting all of you too. This stupid ‘love square with just two people’ was painful enough. And now it’s hurting them because you can’t prove you’re telling the truth without telling them.”

“But...” Marinette began, trying to find an excuse.

“Protecting them doesn’t matter anymore,” she said. “They were already brought into this. And even if they weren’t, there’s only a few hours left before the final battle. And besides, there’s one thing 'little miss liar' can’t really do right now.”

Marinette stared at her for a minute. Chloé flicked her gaze down, fiddling with the Butterfly Miraculous still pinned to her shirt. It got the point across. ‘She can’t get Akumatized if you upset her’.

She watched the determination in Marinette grow. She stood up straighter, focusing her fire on Lila. If Ladybug could face down numerous Akumas, she could muster up a satisfyingly terrifying staredown. Everyone backed off from the confident aura radiating from her. 

“Lila isn’t best friends with Ladybug,” Marinette said. “I know it for a fact. Because- because I’m Ladybug!”

There was a moment of silence where everyone attempted to process that. She wasn’t sure who was crashing hardest. Adrien definitely looked about to faint.

“Come on, Marinette,” Lila sighed. “I think I’d know my best friend! And you say I’m a liar!”

“Tikki, Spots On!”

A flash of pink, and instead of Marinette staring her down, it was Ladybug. Chloé had to admit, the expressions everyone made as they processed that bit of information almost made her day better. Especially the terrified expression Lila had as everything crumbled around her.

“You might want to run before they reboot,” Chloé said. “Don’t think you want to be around when they remember that you tried to get Marinette expelled to cover your lies. Or put together how Adrien’s ‘deal with the devil’ was you blackmailing him into letting you harass him further.”

Naturally, she hadn’t said that to warn her. Just intended to kickstart that reboot.

Alix was the first to move, taking a swing at the girl. She missed, but it sent Lila running. The only thing keeping Alix and Kim from sprinting after her was Ladybug’s yoyo.

“Fuckin let me go!” Alix shouted, struggling against the Magic cord.

“Guys,” Ladybug sighed. “It’s not worth it.”

“Not worth it!” Alya shouted. “Everything she did? Everything she lied about? She tried to get you expelled! She tired to- Fuck! She kept bringing up how often you ‘disappeared’! Questioning how reliable you were! Kept saying how ‘uncomfortable’ your ‘hostility’ made her! She could’ve-”

“I know,” she said, hugging Alya with the arm that wasn’t still holing her yoyo. “But now you guys know what was going on. And that’s what matters. Beating her up isn’t going to help. All it’ll do is get you arrested.”

“Not if no one finds the body!” Kim shouted.

“He has a point,” Max added. “And even if a body is found, this is a large enough group to say we all have an alibi. It’s likely the cops would believe us if we all get our story straight.”

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear this!” Mylene exclaimed, covering her ears.

“I’d suggest hiding her in the river,” Juleka said. “I know a few of the quieter spots along the Seine.”

“I feel like I should discourage that,” Luka frowned at her. “But I’m pretty sure mom would let us commandeer her boat to drop off some trash.”

“I do know a few tricks to confuse the forensics department,” Sabrina chipped in.

“If anyone is unwilling to get their hands dirty, I volunteer for some light stabbing,” Kagami said.

“I… no longer know if this is a joke or not,” Nathaniel admitted.

“Of course it’s a joke!” Rose chirped. “We’re not going to actually murder her! We’re just going to apologize to Marinette and then make sure Alya blasts Lila on social media enough that no one ever believes her again!”

Everyone seemed to freeze for a second. Then they all rushed and hugged Ladybug. Alix and Kim attempted to, though they were still tied up. While everyone repeated apologies, Alya managed to wriggle out of the group hug enough to get her phone out of her pocket, already erasing Lila’s existence from her blog. And her Instagram. And Twitter.

The only person who hadn’t moved yet was Adrien, who was absolutely dumbstruck. Chloé didn’t need the Butterfly’s Empathy powers to tell what all was going on in his mind, but the boy was radiating love and admiration. 

Once everyone began to settle, Adrien seemed to get his thoughts collected together. Everyone else seemed to notice too, parting like the sea to let him and Ladybug stare each other down.

“How the fuck are you so amazing?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God I have to add so many character tags to this.   
FUCK. 
> 
> Also, since Chat Blanc and Felix haven't come out yet, I'm just ignoring their existence and pretending they never happen.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who showed up in the comments? Also, bold of y'all to assume I'm done with Lila. 
> 
> Have some reveals and romance drama!

“Really Adrien?” Chloé groaned. “That’s what you’re going for? Not ‘holy fuck the love of my life is also the other love of my life please marry me now’?”

“It’s a legit question!” Adrien defended. “I meant it when I called her our ‘Everyday Ladybug’! Didn’t realize how true it was, but I meant it! I mean it even more now because if someone can be 'Everyday Ladybug' while also being the actual Ladybug, that's incredible!"

“Uh, that’s, er, thank you?” Ladybug stammered, her face the same color as her suit.

“Only thing I can’t figure out is Multimouse!” he continued. “I saw Multimouse detransform into Marinette and Ladybug whisk her off! I don’t know how you managed that, but I know you’re the only person who could’ve possibly pulled that off!”

“The Fox Miraculous,” she admitted. “I just created an Illusion of me and myself talking and- wait. You weren’t there. The only person who saw Multimouse as Marinette was-”

Chloé didn’t even bother to suppress a snort when that realization clicked. Now it was Ladybug’s turn to crash. She came back quicker though, pulling her yoyo away from Alix and Kim before entangling Adrien. He didn’t seem to mind all that much.

“You dumbass!” Ladybug shouted at him. “I swear I’m going to dangle you from the fucking Eiffel Tower for all this love square heartbreak bullshit you’ve put me through you son of a bitch!”

“Have I ever told you you’re cute when you’re threatening someone?” Adrien grinned.

“Um, guys?” Nino interrupted, looking between the pair. “Care to tell us what’s happening here?”

The rest of the class looked just as confused. Marinette was usually so scared to make Adrien think anything bad of her. So why was she now threatening him? And his response was to... flirt with her? Very blatantly? 

Adrien glanced at the crowd, then back to Ladybug. Her glare softened slightly, just enough to roll her eyes. After a moment, she gave him a nod and Adrien returned with quite the Cheshire grin.

“Plagg, Claws Out!”

A flash of green, and suddenly it was Chat Noir tied up in the yoyo. While the class had another round of freaking out, Chloé just focused on him.

She’d known, of course. Too many coincidences. But having to tell him what she knew now… Some small part of her wondered how tempted he would be. Which side would he choose?

By the time she zoned back in, the yelling was more upset and Alix was smacking Chat upside the head.

“Sorry, I was lost in thought, what happened?” Chloé said.

“Alya asked him why he never asked out Marinette,” Ivan explained with a sigh. “He said ‘because she likes Luka’.”

“I don’t get it,” Chat said. “Ladybug always told me there was some other guy. And Marinette likes Luka. So I lost both to him since they’re the same girl.”

This time, both Alix and Kim smacked him upside the head. Alya looked ready to explode on him, and Nino just looked tired. So very tired. Juleka was giving Luka a sympathetic pat on the back, while Rose seemed to be trying to talk to Kagami.

“I don’t like Luka like that,” Ladybug groaned. “I mean, maybe a little, but that’s not- ugh. We are goddamn idiots. Complete morons. Because I was turning down ‘Chat’ for ‘Adrien’!

The full weight of this stupidity seemed to hit him at once. It also seemed to hit everyone else, as they all groaned. Some also bickered about how to exchange bets. Did this count as ‘Marinette confessing to Adrien’, or ‘Ladybug confessing to Chat Noir’?

“Guys,” Ladybug sighed. “Just stop. I already lost my chance.”

“Don’t you dare tell me you’re giving up because he’s Chat Noir!” Alya shouted. “The boy’s nuts about you!”

“He was,” she said. “But a guy can only handle so much rejection before he moves on.”

Everyone stopped and looked between Ladybug and Kagami. Chat tried to stammer something out about the situation, but couldn’t get more than a few syllables into an explanation.

To her credit, Kagami wasn’t crying. Her expression was far softer than anything Chloé had seen from her. Sad, clearly, but smiling still.

“I thought we were quite compatible,” Kagami confessed. “Turns out, I was third choice.”

“That’s not- It’s- I didn’t-,” Chat stammered. “It’s not a ‘third choice’ situation! I do like you, and I like her too. And somehow it’s more confusing to find out I was in love with two girls instead of three!”

“You fell for her twice,” she shook her head. “I think that says enough. I believe you when you say you like me as well. At least if I had to lose you to someone, it was a friend like Marinette.”

“Shouldn’t the guy choose for himself?” Nino asked.

“Obviously he’s going to choose my girl,” Alya said. “He fell for her twice!!”

“While I’m invested in ‘team Adrienette’,” Juleka began, “Adrien did already go on a date with Kagami.”

“You’re saying that because you’re ‘Team Lukanette’,” Alix pointed out. “Though I do admit, I can see where Adrien’s coming from in being into the girl with swords.”

“Hell yeah he should go with sword lady!” Kim agreed.

“She’s cool,” Max began. “But given their history, it’s far more likely Adrien will choose Marinette.”

“I do think that’s a bit romantic...” Rose trailed off.

“I feel so betrayed,” Juleka said, clearly sarcastic enough to make Rose laugh.

“She has a point though,” Mylene admitted. “They’ve danced circles around each other for so long, and now that they know they’ve been mutually pining it’s different.”

“The most infuriating idiots to lovers slowburn,” Nathaniel muttered.

“I think the original point has been lost,” Sabrina sighed.

“You people are ridiculous,” Chloé groaned. “With all of the love pouring off of them in so many directions, obviously the solution is for all three of them to make out! Toss Rockstar here in there too! Hell, just start an entire harem while you’re at it since I’ve had to listen to all of you chucklefucks confess your fantasies of Ladybug and Chat Noir whisking you away into the sunset!”

Everyone looked to be suitably embarrassed. Alya, who had still been erasing Lila from her various social media, actually fumbled her phone before shooting straight up. Judging from the way Ladybug wouldn’t meet her face, it seemed the blogger had confided in her friend about things a little more than just ‘swinging into the sunset’.

“A-anyway,” Ladybug said, shaking her head and finally releasing Chat from her yoyo. “We can sort out the romance drama later. I called all of you here for a reason.”

“Right!” Alya agreed, glad to change the subject. “You said it was a Miraculous-related emergency? Please tell me you need Rena Rouge again!”

“And I am just now realizing that Ladybug probably chose you guys to be Heroes,” Chat sighed, rubbing his face.

“Here’s a way to get it over with,” Ladybug said. “Raise your hand if you’ve used a Miraculous. Everyone else can fill in the blanks.”

Everyone watched as Alya, Nino, Luka, Kagami, Max, and Kim all raised their hands. Alix wondered out loud if she counted, given the ‘time travel bullshit’, and Ladybug just sighed and nodded. Then Alix put her hand up too while everyone else clamored and guessed who was who.

“Okay, that’s another crisis we can push aside for later,” Chat announced, getting their attention. “For now, I’m pretty sure Bugaboo said she gathered us here for a reason!”

“Back to calling me ‘Bugaboo’, I see,” Ladybug muttered. “But yes. There’s things going on, and even I don’t have all the details yet. But apparently Chloé does.”

And with that, all of them were staring at her. Waiting. Usually she loved the attention, but this was different. It wasn’t admiration or hatred, just curiosity. And she knew that telling them what she found out would hurt. It would hurt her, it would hurt Adrien, it might even hurt everyone who cared about him.

She wasn’t sure when Pollen and Nooroo had returned to her jacket, probably when Ladybug transformed. But Chloé felt the reassuring pats from the tiny creatures. With a shaky breath, she stilled her nerves and began to speak.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm honestly not sure how to tag the romance stuff. Should I tag each individual Adrien/Mari, Mari/Luka, etc. Or just tag it with the implied Mari/Adrien/Kagami/Luka?
> 
> I'll let y'all vote on that and tag it later. The romance isn't /that/ important to the fic, but it's something that showed up so you know.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow it's been a while!
> 
> My only real note here is that Chat Blanc is not Canon here for reasons I'll get into at the end.

“I don’t know how,” Chloé said, swallowing down the rest of her anxiety. “But somehow Hawkmoth got his hands on the Bee Miraculous.”

“This is my fault,” Ladybug said. “I- I knew Mayura was following me! I should’ve been more careful getting the Dragon!”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Chat said, moving to comfort her. “What happened to Master Fu?”

“I don’t know!” she admitted. “I went to return the Dragon and the place was trashed! He wasn’t answering his phone either.”

“Who’s Master Fu?” Chloé asked.

“The Guardian of the Miraculous,” Chat said. “He chose us to do this. And he protects the rest of the Miraculous when they’re not being used.”

“If Hawkmoth had the Bee, he has to have the rest!” Ladybug said.

“You’re telling me Hawkmoth has my Miraculous!” Alya exclaimed. “Chat, give me your baton! I’m hunting the motherfucker down!”

“Babe, calm!” Nino said, literally holding her back.

“Got it,” Alix said, already twirling Chat’s baton.

“How the hell?” Chat wondered, hand automatically moving to the spot his baton should be.

“She did it when Chloé suggested the foursome,” Ivan said. “You were really distracted by that thought.”

“Guys!” Ladybug snapped over their snickering. “Important things happening! Remember!”

Everyone settled down, glad for the short reprieve, but guilty for laughing when so much was going on. Chloé could feel that through the Butterfly Miraculous. Suddenly, saying things like ‘that’s enough emotion for today’ made a lot of sense. Especially when it was focused on her.

“As I said,” Chloé began. “Hawkmoth had the Bee Miraculous. You all probably heard that he Akumatized my parents again. He… He told me that if I agreed to help him, he’d release my parents and let me be Queen Bee again.”

“Since you’re here I’m guessing you didn’t take it,” Sabrina said, giving a soft smile.

“Somewhat,” she said. “I told him I would agree, but the moment he gave me a chance I hit him with Venom and stole his Miraculous.”

“So you’ve known who he is this whole conversation and you haven’t said anything?!” Kim exclaimed. “Come on! Give us a name so shortstack and I can kick his ass!”

Everyone else said something similar. Some said they were glad she didn’t fall into his traps, that she was better than they expected. That sort of hurt, but she couldn’t fault them for it.

She hesitated when it came to telling them. They all noticed, confusion coming off of them in waves. The words stuck in her throat, not wanting to speak it into reality.

Looking at Chat, at Adrien, she tried to convey her apology for what was about to happen. He seemed to catch on, shoulders slumping, ears laying flat. Even his belt tail was laying limp.

“It’s him, isn’t it?” Chat asked.

“I-I’m sorry,” Chloé said. “You don’t seem that surprised though.”

“I hoped it wasn’t him,” he said. “We suspected him once, but ruled him out when he was Akumatized. Ever since Mayura appeared… I kept thinking about it. How he could’ve given her the Butterfly to use that day or something. I half expected to walk in and find him monologueing in his office.”

“Oh, Chat,” Ladybug said, taking her own turn to comfort him now. “That… that explains why you were so upset when I said we needed to investigate him. And when he got Akumatized.”

“Yeah, well,” he shook his head. “Even without accusing him of being a supervillain, you know how much it hurts to fight your own Akumatized family members.”

“You know,” Nino sighed. “I’m somehow both surprised and not at all surprised that your dad’s a supervillain.”

“Babe, not the time,” Alya nudged him.

“Look, the dude’s an ass,” he defended. “But the guy’s also rich and successful in a job he’s passionate about. Why would he want to be a supervillain?”

“If something happened to Alya, wouldn’t you be tempted to do anything to get her back?” Chat asked.

“The Miraculous are powerful,” Ladybug explained, trying to answer everyone’s questions before they were asked. “The Ladybug and Black Cat together can do a lot of things. But they involve a balance. If you use them to, say, bring back the dead, you’d have to sacrifice someone else.”

Chloé had suspected as much. It was the one thing that kept her from taking the Miraculous off Marinette and Adrien herself, once she realized who they were. That, and the fact that she was trying to be better.

“Can I ask something?” Sabrina wondered.

“Go ahead,” Ladybug nodded.

“How is this going to end?” she asked. “Of course you have some plan for the final battle, but should I call my dad to have Mr. Agreste arrested afterward?”

About half of the group seemed ready to shout ‘absolutely!’. Then they took notice of Chat’s expression. The boy looked like he was about to be sick, or have a breakdown. Or both.

He already lost one parent. Gabriel might not be the best parent ever, but he tried, and Adrien loved him for that. Even if Gabriel was just arrested and Adrien could visit him in jail, it would be a blow to him. And the news of who Hawkmoth was getting out? That could turn his entire world upside down. Even if Adrien outed himself as Chat Noir, there would be people who questioned him, wondering if he knew the whole time, if he was a part of it. 

It was selfish, but all of them wanted to protect their friend.

“We’ll discuss this later,” Ladybug said, taking control of the situation. “Once he’s no longer a threat, we can figure out how to handle that. For now, we need to work on a plan.”

“You do remember me saying I had an idea, right?” Chloé asked. “I mean, I know I’m not exactly the most trustworthy, but-”

“That’s not...” she sighed. “Not to sound like I’m using a line, but it’s not you, it’s me. I’m Ladybug. I’m the leader of the team. I’m supposed to have a plan. All of this is just throwing me for a loop and I just-”

She was silenced by both Chat and Luka taking a hand and smiling softly. Now it was her turn to blush and look back and forth. Eventually her gaze landed on Kagami with an expression that said ‘save me’.

“You might be Ladybug,” Chat said. “But as amazing as you are, you have a team. You don’t have to do this alone.”

“We’re here for you,” Luka agreed. “All of us. I hate to say, but I kind of agree with Chloé.”

“Thanks, jackass,” Chloé scoffed.

“I meant about the secrets,” he said. “Keeping so much from so many people has made your song discordant. Now though, I think it’s beginning to find its harmony.”

Chloé had to roll her eyes at how sappy that was. And because ‘Rockstar’ was using music metaphors. However, everyone else seemed to find it very charming. She caught Chat’s gaze and raised an eyebrow before nodding her head in Luka’s direction.

His expression said very clearly that he was still thinking about earlier comments on his love life.

“We’re not letting you do this alone!” Alya agreed. “Never again!”

The rest of them agreed, giving various shouts of support. Ladybug looked about to cry, though this time it was from happiness.

“Thank you,” Ladybug said. “We’re in this together now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So about why Chat Blanc isn't Canon here: 
> 
> 1.) I wanted Adrien's reaction to finding out Gabriel is Hawkmoth to be calmer. Something he's already come to terms with and made his decision about. As much as he wants his mom back, he knows this isn't the way and will fight to get the Butterfly and Peacock back. 
> 
> 2.) I have always written Adrien as Gabriel's limit. He won't directly harm Adrien, and refuses to Akumatize him. He even refuses to let him know about any of this, even though he feels guilty for hiding it. He'd have to fall very deep into desperation and insanity for Chat Blanc to happen, and we don't have time for that. 
> 
> So yeah. Chat Blanc isn't canon for me, and especially not canon for this fic.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On to the plan! A few of you guessed in the comments what the plan was, and I'm proud to deliver!

“So,” Chloé said. “My plan. First off, are there any more Miraculous hidden around? Or just what we have here?”

“If we find Master Fu, he has the Turtle,” Ladybug said. “But I’m not going to bank on it. Though I should give Kagami hers again.”

Opening her yoyo, she pulled a small box out of it. No one bothered to ask how that worked, knowing they’d get an answer of ‘it’s Magic’.

Once Kagami put the necklace on again, Longg appeared. Half of the group was already used to Kwami, having used one themselves. The rest had mixed reactions, some being surprised by the tiny creature, and others being enraptured by how adorable he was.

“It’s good to see you again,” Kagami greeted. “Though I hadn’t expected it would be this soon.”

“Likewise,” Longg said. “I wish it were under better circumstances. Are you ready?”

“Longg, Bring the Storm!”

As Kagami became Ryuko, Chloé thought over what she was about to do. She took the Bee Miraculous out of her hair, staring at it for a moment.

“Pollen?” Chloé called.

“Yes, My Queen?” Pollen answered, floating up to her.

She hesitated for a moment, gripping the Miraculous tighter. But she had already made her decision. Stepping forward, she handed the comb to Alya, causing a lot of confusion.

“Take care of Pollen for me, okay?” Chloé said. “You’re the one with the most experience with a Miraculous. The top might be a bit different than a flute, but I think you can manage well enough.”

“But you’re Queen Bee!” Alya protested.

“Not for this plan,” she said. “Nooroo?”

“Yes Mistress?” Nooroo appeared.

“One question for you,” she said. “How did Hawkmoth do what he did on Heroes’ Day? That thing where he Akumatized multiple people?”

“Please tell me you’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking,” Ladybug sighed.

Everyone else got the message, and Chloé could feel the storm of mixed feelings over that. Fear was a big one. But determination rose even higher than that. If this was what it took to finish this, they would do it.

“How does it work?” Chloé asked again.

“It’s both simple and complicated,” Nooroo answered. “Hawkmoth Akumatized Miss Nathalie into an Akuma called ‘Catalyst’. She was able to boost his power and let him Akumatize many people at once.”

“Why doesn’t he do that all the time?” Nino asked. “I’m glad he didn’t, but dude. That’d be nuts if he did it more often.”

“That’s the complicated part,” they answered. “He needs a large group to be feeling those similar emotions. On Heroes’ Day, he Akumatized Miss Rossi into Volpina again and made that Illusion.”

Good. She could work with that. The group might not be feeling terror and despair, but the Butterfly wasn’t meant for that. She’d asked Pollen about that the first time they met, why there would be a Miraculous to make Villains out of negativity. It was supposed to make Heroes out of positive emotions. Love, protection, that sort of thing. All emotions that this group was feeling now.

“There are flaws in the plan,” Ladybug mused. “You and the Akuma would be linchpins. If one of you gets taken out, everyone would be screwed. Hell, if Hawkmoth gets the Butterfly back, he could take over all the Akumas you made.”

“I know,” Chloé said. “Which is why I, and whoever the first Akuma is, will be staying behind and out of the fight.”

“That might work,” Chat said. “It’s still risky, but I don’t think there can be a ‘perfect plan’. Too much can go wrong.”

“Ugh,” Ladybug groaned. “I wish we had more time to think of a plan!”

“I think we’ve proven you work best under pressure,” he replied.

“Usually that’s just what she says after procrastinating on homework,” Alix commented.

“Hush,” Ladybug said. “Fine. I think this plan could work. Now it’s just the question of who gets to be the first Akuma.”

The conversation on that was silent, just looks everyone gave each other. If Chloé had to guess, one of the ‘softer’ ones would volunteer, not wanting to be on the frontlines. Mylene or Nathaniel, maybe. Or Sabrina, who would want to stay by her side.

However, she watched as Alya sighed and finally pinned the Bee Miraculous in her hair.

“I’ll do it,” Alya volunteered.

“No,” Chloé said. “I gave you the Bee so you could fight on the frontlines, not stay back here.”

“As much as I want to punch Hawkmoth in the face,” she said, “You need backup here. We don’t know what all Hawkmoth has up his sleeve. He might send someone or something here to fight our ‘linchpins’. You might have a weapon, but your Akuma won’t have much for offense or defense.”

“I agree,” Ladybug said. “It’s the best option, though I wish I could have you by my side for this.”

“Maybe next time,” she grinned.

“Let’s not have a ‘next time’?” Rose asked.

Everyone agreed with that. Taking a breath, Chloé locked eyes with Alya. They seemed to have the same idea of being dramatic.

“Pollen, Buzz On!”

“Nooroo, Dark Wings Rise!”

Once the transformation washed over her, she was surprised to find her hair had still been pulled into a low ponytail, though she couldn’t see what was holding it in place this time. Everything else was still the same.

Alya, on the other hand, had a more standard Superhero Suit. It was a little different from Queen Bee’s outfit. Where Queen Bee’s stripes had angles to them, Alya’s were rounded, just bands around her arms and legs. Her gloves didn’t have the yellow fingers, instead having a yellow hexagon on the back. The shoes were also lower heeled compared to Queen Bee’s, though the soles were still yellow. Alya’s hair was still an ombre, going from an amber color to a more golden yellow at the tips.

“Is the Butterfly just designed for a suit?” Juleka asked.

“The transformation is based on what you want,” Chat said. “I didn’t think too hard about it, so I got this. I thought about changing it once I knew I could, but didn’t think LB would be okay with it.”

“You should see the sketchbook of redesigns I made,” Nathaniel spoke up. “Er- No offense Mari. But your outfit isn’t very…”

“I know,” Ladybug sighed. “Don’t worry. I have a sketchbook full too. I just couldn’t decide on one or a time to do the redesign.”

“Should you two pick Hero Names?” Max asked. “Though it might be a bit useless now that Identities are revealed.”

“Well,” Alya mused. “The first time Ladybug tried to give me the Bee, I was going to choose ‘Amber’. But honestly? I’m getting an Akuma name anyway so it doesn’t matter, right?”

Chloé thought about it, turning her cane in her hands as she did. Eventually, she gave them a sad smile.

“I am Monarch.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes. I'm totally keeping Chloé out of the main fight because she's a Linchpin. Not because I suck at writing action scenes.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally back to this! And time to (kinda) subtly toss in a ship.

“Are you ready?” Ladybug asked.

“Yes,” Alya said.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Monarch answered, focusing more on the Magic Butterfly in her hand.

She held the Butterfly out, letting it enter Alya’s weapon. The familiar glowing mask appeared on her face as the Magic gave them a Mental Link. Everyone backed up, instinct from past Akumas tripping their fear response. But they stayed strong.

“Miracle Champion,” Monarch addressed. “I am Monarch. Hawkmoth has stolen and misused the Miraculous, and I can give you the power to take them back. Do you accept?”

“Yes, Monarch,” Alya replied.

The Magic that enveloped her was different than usual, a side-effect of the emotions being used. Instead of purple and black clouds, it was a purple and pink light.

Once it faded, they could see that Miracle Champion’s form was just Alya with extra accessories. The main part was a short, dark purple cloak. There was also silver gauntlets and a belt, along with a circlet of silver with a small butterfly on her head.

Miracle Champion raised her hand, a glow of pink Magic emanating from it. Monarch offered her cane, and felt a buzz of Magic wash over her again.

She didn’t get a transformation this time. Just a similar silver circlet on her head. The feeling however? The original Miraculous transformation had already felt invigorating. But this? This was like slamming several energy drinks at once combined with the sugar rush of just as many of her default coffee order.

With that, she turned her focus to the rest of the group. They all would get their own Akuma forms. Though this time, it was a form of their own choosing.

Some chose to remake their original Akuma forms. Nathaniel was one, becoming Evillustrator again. Though he used the name ‘Mightillustrator’ and kept his real skintone.

Others created something new, like Nino as ‘Guardian Angel’, an angelic knight with a leaning toward defense. He had large white wings, armor, a staff and a shield.

Some even took inspiration from other’s Akumatizations. Like Alix, who became ‘The Goddess’, a Greek-inspired version of her brother, ‘The Pharaoh’. Her outfit was a Greek chiton, strappy sandals, and gold armbands, with the medal pinned to her outfit an indication of her powers. Currently she was in Zeus-mode, lightning crackling at her fingertips.

Monarch had offered to power up the Heroes too, to allow them a more powerful form, or at least let them use their power more than once. Ladybug refused. Should something happen, and Hawkmoth gets a hold of their group, she wanted them to be a last line of defense.

Even once everyone was transformed, heading to the fight, they brought in more allies. Aurore, Marc, Ondine, Wayhem. Classmates, friends. Each time someone was offered a Butterfly, they hesitated. But with Ladybug and Chat Noir assuring them, they accepted. Hearing Monarch’s voice instead of Hawkmoth calmed the rest of their fears. 

Wanting answers for something, Monarch focused her Mental Link to The Goddess. However, she wasn’t entirely prepared for the fully opened link. Akumas had very intense emotions, and Monarch could feel all of it. Determination, protectiveness, righteous fury, and love.

“Ask Ladybug something for me,” Monarch said. “Why them? Sure, they’re good allies. But I’m sure a few adults would help too.”

“Athena, give me your Wisdom,” The Goddess said, her powers shifting.

“Trying to figure it out for yourself?” she wondered.

“The pieces were there, I just needed to see them clearly,” she answered. “Most adults would take over. They trust Ladybug, because she’s the Hero. Given power of their own, they’d tell us we’re just children who shouldn’t be doing this. They’d be right, of course. But it would make us more dangerous and defiant.”

“Too true,” she mused. “This shouldn’t have been our responsibility. But it is. So we’re going to do it.”

“There’s one other reason,” she said. “Ladybug is still on the fence with what should happen to Hawkmoth and Mayura. Keeping this quiet, or outing them to the world. An adult would make the decision for us.”

“Do you know what Ladybug’s waiting for to make that decision?” she asked.

“I can only guess,” she said. “But I think she wants to know how he reacts to Chat. To Adrien.”

“Hopefully Gabriel isn’t too far gone for this,” she said. “Anything else?”

“Nothing that I can’t tell you later,” she said. “Though, later, I won’t have Aphrodite’s Charm. After all, what’s a Monarch to a Goddess?”

While Monarch felt flustered, The Goddess seemed to instantly be hit with embarrassment and regret. Deciding that was something to sort out another day, she cut the connection.

“Are you okay?” Miracle Champion asked. “You turned red. Please tell me you’re not getting sick from all this.”

“I’m fine,” Monarch choked out. “Just- just Akumas are a bit more honest than I expected, you know?”

“Been there, done that,” she sighed.

Monarch sighed, sitting down on the steps. She was starting to feel tired. Just because Miracle Champion let her create more Akumas, it didn’t mean she could handle the strain of all that Magic. She was doing very well, of course. But she was still a Human teenager, and Pollen had once explained the limitations of Magic. Why the Heroes could only use their power once.

Magic Burnout. Using up so much energy, too much energy. At best, it was like pushing yourself too hard and being exhausted for a while. At worst? Well, ‘burnout’ could be literal.

She tried not to think about that. Especially with so many other thoughts going through her head. Even cutting off the Mental Link only helped so much.

Thinking over a few specific things, she looked to Miracle Champion. The girl had sat down beside her, waiting. Almost anticipating something. Monarch wanted to say something, even if it was just because of the awkward silence.

“Can I just use your name?” Monarch asked. “Because ‘Miracle Champion’ is kind of a mouthful.”

“You’re the one who gave me that name,” Alya replied.

“I never claimed to be good at naming things,” she shrugged. “At least it makes sense. I’m not sure what exactly Gabriel was thinking with some of his choices.”

“You talking about the Akumas or his life in general?” she asked.

Monarch only shrugged at that, a small smile playing on her face. Then it fell, remembering what led to all of this.

“You know,” Monarch sighed. “Since we’re talking about ‘not thinking of our choices’: I never planned on revealing my identity on tv.”

“Really?” Alya asked. “No offense, but what exactly was your plan?”

“Just show up to the next Akuma battle,” she said. “Tell them I’m a new Hero come to help. And just… do that. Be a Hero. And I even thought it could be, like, a fresh start, you know? No one would know who I was, so I could be whoever I wanted. It probably would’ve been more trouble to maintain than I thought, but I figured I could go for ‘snarky but overall a good person’.”

“Then what happened?” she frowned. “Why’d you change your mind?”

“You left before that whole thing happened,” she sighed. “After the fashion show, when Marinette was showing her hat to my mother. She liked it. So much, in fact, that she offered to take Marinette off to New York for an internship. And that pissed me off. Because she never even complimented the things I do, much less offered to take me with her.”

“That does sting,” she winced. “Pun not intended.”

“I think puns come with the territory,” she replied. “But my mother… she’s never around. And when she is? She doesn’t even remember my name. It’s always ‘Claire’ or ‘Claudia’, or even ‘Chlorine’. Fucking ‘Chlorine’!”

“Okay,” she said, eyebrows raising in surprise. “That explains a lot about…. Literally everything you’ve ever done. When we get done with this, I’m going to head over to the hotel and kill your mom.”

“That wasn’t even the worst part that day,” she said. “I asked her why. Why she’d take Marinette and not me. She said it was because Marinette was ‘Exceptional!’. I tried to argue that I was exceptional too. Want to guess what she said to me?”

“Something terrible?” she guessed.

“Naturally,” she almost laughed. “She said, and I quote: ‘The only thing Exceptional about you, my dear, is your mother!’.”

If she thought Alya looked shocked before, this was a whole new level. The rage coming off her was stronger than what she had felt toward Lila.

“That’s it,” Alya said. “I was saying it as a joke before, but now I might actually kill your mom. Because what the fuck!? Who treats their own child that way! She makes Gabriel look like parent of the year! And he’s a goddamn supervillain!”

“Maybe that’s what I was thinking when I transformed into Queen Bee,” Monarch said. “All I remember is hearing that, and then my next clear memory is Ladybug and Chat Noir pulling me out of the river. Everything else is fuzzy. And I honestly thought I was just Akumatized the whole time until I saw the news reports.”

“I think anyone would have a complete breakdown after that,” she said. “And, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t do anything,” she waved her off.

“I kinda did,” she said. “I mean, we just thought you were being an attention-hungry idiot not thinking of the dangers. We made fun of you for having a complete mental breakdown!”

“Considering I was an asshole to you, I don’t blame you,” she shrugged.

“Well I do,” she insisted. “You might be a jerk, but being a jerk in return about something so- so fucked about your life? You might make fun of people and all, but I don’t think even you would give someone hell over something like that!”

“At least someone thinks I have limits,” she huffed.

All that got was a sympathetic look.

“I’m not talking about you guys,” Monarch said. “I’m just pissed at Gabriel. He should know me better than to think I’d work for Hawkmoth. I mean, if he’d told me this was about Emilie from the beginning, I might’ve helped him. But not knowing who Hawkmoth was or what he wanted? No. As pissed as I was at Ladybug, I would never.”

“Why were you mad at Ladybug?” Alya asked.

“Kagami,” she said. “I was benched because my identity was compromised. So was Ryuko, since she outed her identity during that fight against her mother. But Ladybug brought Ryuko back out despite that. Now that I’m calmed down it’s probably just that she needed the Dragon, but still. In the moment it hurt.”

“You know,” she mused. “We should probably tell Ladybug to make a rule ‘don’t bring in people to fight their families’ so that we can have less emotional accidental reveals. Because that seems to be a problem.”

“I know, right?” she laughed.

As Monarch was about to say something else, a blur of motion caught her eye. A figure was jumping over the rooftops. She nudged Alya and pointed it out.

The figure got closer, and became recognizable. Monarch wouldn’t have believed it if she didn’t notice the way Alya stiffened and glared.

“I was joking before,” Alya growled. “But now I’m actually going to kill her.”

They got up, preparing for a fight as Volpina landed across the street.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Told y'all I wasn't done with Lila.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Featuring me attempting to write a fight scene, and Gabriel being decent for once. Plus hints of my favorite thing to write: Chloé and Adrien being friends.

“I’m so glad I found you!” Volpina exclaimed. “I need your help!”

“How dare you-“ Alya began.

“Please hear me out!” she nearly begged, crocodile tears coming to her eyes.

“You know what?” Monarch sighed, leaning on her cane. “I want to hear what she comes up with. Call it morbid curiosity or something.”

“Stalling for time so we don’t have to fight?” Alya asked in a hushed whisper.

Monarch shrugged. It was true though. Stalling could help. And she has questions of her own, though she doubted she could get a real answer out of Volpina.

“Alya,” Volpina said, her voice having such false softness. “Marinette isn’t really Ladybug.”

“You think I’ll believe that after I saw her transform?” Alya scoffed.

“She has the Miraculous, but she’s not the real Ladybug!” she insisted. “Marinette followed me until I met with my friend Isabelle, the real Ladybug. She followed Isabelle and stole the Miraculous from her!”

“And why in the world would she do that?” she asked.

“To discredit me!” she said. “And look what happened! She convinced you guys that she’s been Ladybug this whole time! I wanted to believe this was just about me and Adrien, but Isabelle told me how both Marinette and Chloé are working for Hawkmoth! Do you really think Chloé of all people managed to get the upper hand on Hawkmoth?”

“Rude ass bitch,” Monarch muttered.

And now,” she continued. “Now Marinette’s on her way to hand the Ladybug Miraculous over to him! Please, Alya. The only reason I didn’t tell you when I found out was because I was scared of what she’d do to me! I had to go see Isabelle and get my Miraculous.”

“Your Miraculous?” she repeated.

Oh no. That was just the wrong thing to say. Alya’s rage was almost overwhelming. If Monarch wasn’t right in the crossfire, she’d think about grabbing popcorn for the upcoming smackdown.

“I’m not an idiot,” Alya said, her whole body trembling. “Believing that Mari could be hostile over jealousy is one thing. But I would never, ever, believe that she’d work for Hawkmoth. Or steal Ladybug’s Miraculous. Even if I did, she knew too much. Things only the Real Ladybug would know.”

“Alya,” Volpina said. “Please. You know I’m telling the truth. Do you really think Ladybug would let just anyone have the Fox Miraculous?”

“No, she wouldn’t” she snapped. “Which is why we both know you’re lying. Ladybug gave the Fox Miraculous to her best friend. So give me back Trixx you motherfucking fake fox!”

With that, the battle was on, Alya throwing her top at Volpina. It was deflected with the flute, and Monarch didn’t need the Butterfly Miraculous to tell that the faker was annoyed and giving up on trying to manipulate the situation.

While she would love to watch the fireworks, the pair circling each other wasn’t the biggest thing on her mind. Instead, she inspected the cane. Surprisingly, there was a sword in there. Interesting.

The thing she was looking for involved flipping open the gem on top. Just like when she was Queen Bee, Monarch’s weapon connected to her phone. It even had all her contacts. Scrolling though, she tapped the one she wanted to talk to.

“Are you making a call right now?” Alya shouted, dodging a swing of the flute. “Seriously?”

“Curiosity killed the Cat, but I’m not Adrien,” Monarch replied.

It took a few more tries calling, during which she had to dodge attempted attacks from Volpina. Luckily Alya was enough to keep her attention. Eventually, the call was picked up.

She could see Gabriel’s face. Well, most of it, as it was hidden behind the typical domino mask that came with the Miraculous. She couldn’t quite tell which one he was using from here. Though she could tell from the movement that he had answered in the middle of a battle.

“I should’ve known you’d be using my Miraculous,” Gabriel said.

“Huh,” Monarch said. “So what you’re saying is that you don’t like it when people steal your Miraculous. Imagine that!”

“Is this an attempt to distract me from the fight?” he asked. “Because it’s not working.”

“It’s working a little,” she said. “But no. I wanted to know why in the world you gave Lila the Fox Miraculous?”

“If she defeats you, then it helps,” he answered. “If you defeat her, then it’s no big loss.”

“I’m right here you know!” Volpina shouted. “You know I’m more important than that!”

“Remind me,” Alya spat. “Which one of you did you say was ‘working for Hawkmoth’? Because from where I’m standing, I think that’s a clear answer!”

Monarch rolled her eyes as the two continued their fight. From the video call, she could hear that battle was in full swing as well. It was a little unnerving that Gabriel could defend himself and still stay on call. Though she did wonder why he didn’t just hang up.

She almost laughed when she saw Chat in the background, being thrown by one of the various Akumas. Go Rose! He hit the wall with a thud and a string of swears, which had Gabriel making an almost shocked and offended expression.

“Adrien!” Gabriel shouted. “Language!”

“I just found out my dad’s a supervillain!” Chat Noir retorted. “I think that gives me a pass to say the fuck word!”

The fight resumed when a blur that was probably Nathalie rammed into him.

“Seriously,” Monarch said, focusing the conversation back to her. “While I absolutely have a bone to pick with you over literally everything, I have a feeling you should know exactly who you’re working with.”

“If you mean miss Rossi’s tendency to lie, then I am very aware,” Gabriel replied. “Even if I hadn’t caught onto a few of her more outlandish tales, her Akumatizations were triggered by someone attempting to expose her lies.”

“I figured as much,” she mused. “But no. It’s not about the tales she tells. It’s what she does to people. She tried to completely destroy Marinette socially, and also tried to get her killed as Ladybug. Not to mention being a pain in Kagami’s side too. Since at least one of them is going to be your future daughter-in-law, you might want to shut that down if you ever want to have visits with the grandkids in the future. And that doesn’t even begin to cover what she’s doing to Adrien.”

“What are you talking about?” Alya asked, having been thrown to the ground a few feet beside her.

“I don’t do anything he doesn’t want,” Volpina replied, following the toss with her flute.

Monarch sidestepped their fight, keeping an eye on the screen. It didn’t take much to see the wheels turning in Gabriel’s head. He’d heard lines like that before. All she had to do, was add gasoline to the fire.

“She hangs off him, all the time,” Monarch said. “Even though he doesn’t even like her as a person. And I already know about one ‘deal with the devil’, as he called it. She was leveraging him to stay quiet by attacking Marinette. Simple blackmail. And that’s just the stuff she’s done in public, or that Adrien’s confessed to. Want to bet on the likelihood of that being the tip of the iceberg?”

Oh boy. There was such a cold fury in his eyes. Maybe pissing him off while in the middle of a battle was a bad idea. However, she was focusing on her own battle. Throwing both him and Lila off their rhythm.

“Nathalie!” Gabriel shouted. “When we’re done here, start writing up termination papers for miss Rossi’s modeling contract. And begin gathering evidence for a restraining order!”

“Of course sir!” Nathalie’s voice answered back.

“You can’t do this to me!” Volpina shouted.

“I can and I will,” Gabriel replied. “Chloé, while we are currently on opposite sides of this fight, I believe we can consider her a common enemy.”

“Already planning on taking her down,” Monarch confirmed. “Any tricks up her sleeve?”

“Do you really think I would trust her with more than one Miraculous?” he asked.

“Good choice,” she said. “On that note, after all this is done, I am absolutely having a hell of a conversation with you about that whole ‘Akumatizing my parents to make me work for you’ thing instead of, oh, I don’t know. Telling me what’s going on?”

He didn’t respond, only deciding to finally click the ‘end call’ button. While Monarch closed the top of the cane, she focused on Volpina’s rage.

Exactly as planned. Volpina’s attacks were getting more and more wild. Sloppy. All she wanted to do was swing away. It would be easier to trip her up.

However, Monarch may have miscalculated in how that could make her more dangerous. As she lost control of the situation, she lost control altogether. Alya was being pushed back, and Monarch had to actually step in to deflect a few hits.

Then, Volpina’s emotions shifted. She backed off, giving a calculating grin.

“This is a minor setback,” Volpina said. “All I have to do is defeat you two. Once I have the Butterfly Miraculous, that Akuma Army will be mine to control. I can take the rest of the Miraculous from whoever has them. And considering what I’ve heard about combining the Ladybug and Black Cat? Well, I think you can do that with your pathetic deduction skills!”

Well that hit a nerve. Alya screamed and threw a punch. Now it was her turn to lose control in anger. Monarch backed off, watching Volpina dodge hit after hit, wondering what her plan was.

After throwing Alya again, Volpina twirled the flute. She put it to her lips and began to play, a ball of energy forming on the end. Both Heroes knew what was coming.

“Mirage!”

Monarch closed her eyes, not letting herself see the Illusions, knowing she might not get past them if she did. Still, their voices echoed through her mind. Her mother, telling her how ‘Unexceptional’ she was. Her dad, realizing she was nothing but a spoiled brat. Gabriel, telling her that he knew he could use her because of how selfish she was to want the Bee Miraculous back. Adrien and Sabrina, telling her how they regret ever befriending her. Even Emilie, saying she was disappointed in how far she’d fallen.

It was all an Illusion, but it sounded so real. She knew if she opened her eyes, it would be just as real.

Ignoring the voices, she focused on the emotions. None of the Illusions pinged on her empathetic radar. Only Alya and Volpina. The latter of which was far too close for comfort, if that beeping sound was anything to go by.

Fully unsheathing the sword, Monarch took a swing. It didn’t make contact, but it got her to back up. She continued, listening to the Illusions just enough to know where to swing and dispel them.

When Volpina moved back in, she opened her eyes to deflect the flute.

“Hasn’t anyone told you not to bring a flute to a swordfight?” Monarch quipped.

“If you want to win, you’ll have to try and stab me!” Volpina snarled.

Technically true. But Monarch knew that the Miraculous worked on intent. One of the many things she’d discussed with Pollen when they first met. The sword would do plenty of damage, but it would be minor as long as she wanted to hold back.

Feint, lunge. Parry, riposte. While Monarch was not a champion fencer, she had grown up with one. When it came to childhood games of pirates and princesses, it was either learn to use a sword, or lose to Adrien every time.

At first, she had Volpina on the ropes. Forcing her to guard and retreat. But she knew she was quickly running out of energy. Keeping all the Akumas going was draining her too fast. It was only a little longer, but she didn’t know if she could hold out on her own.

Chancing a look over to Alya, she found her in the middle of her own band of Illusions. An Illusion of Marinette leading the taunts, with copies of their classmates joining in. Yelling at her, calling her an idiot. A worthless reporter who can’t even tell that her best friend is Ladybug, much less that the new girl is lying. They should just drop her with Lila, and let the lawyers figure out where the lawsuits end up. After all, she dropped her 'best friend' for the shiny new girl with fantastical stories. 

“Alya, snap out of it!” Monarch shouted.

That didn’t work. The girl was trapped in the middle. Her Illusions spoke more lies, claiming it as truth. Accusing her of things that she could have done, had she listened to Lila. And despite knowing it was an Illusion, panic had begun to set in, freezing her in place.

She wasn’t getting out of this on her own.

“Okay, sorry in advance for this!” Monarch shouted, hoping she’d hear her.

Monarch kept an eye on Volpina, going to guarding instead of advancing, and snapped the Mental Link back into place before pushing it through.

It felt weird, like being in to places at once. Vision split between her own and Alya’s. While the waves of panic and despair fought her, Monarch attempted to calm the storm. Alya’s hand reached for her weapon, and threw it forward.

It hit the Illusionette in the face, turning her into orange mist. Then she spun in an arc, taking out the rest in one fell swoop.

Turning the Mental Link off again, Monarch stumbled in exhaustion. It gave Volpina a chance to get a hit in, but she was quickly tugged back by Alya’s top.

“Thanks for the save,” Monarch said.

“Same to you,” Alya said, gearing up to fight again. “You okay? You’re breathing heavy.”

“Yeah,” she swallowed. “Energy getting low. I-I’ll be fine. Two more minutes, and it’s over.”

“You have a plan other than keep wailing on her?” she wondered.

“Keep her talking,” she said.

They nodded and went back into the fight. Monarch took the offensive, going back to sword versus flute. Alya went back and forth between throwing her top at Volpina’s face or weapon, ready to pull Monarch back and trade out if it got too much.

“You think the Miraculous can help you?” Monarch scoffed. “They won’t. You have no clue what you’re messing with!”

“I think I do,” Volpina replied. “A wish that grants anything? I could do whatever I want! I could speak a lie into truth with that kind of power!”

“That wish requires Balance,” she spat back. “Anything you speak becomes truth? Sure, it’ll be great getting celebrities to love you, and all the money and fame you want. But what about lies like your tinnitus? Your sprains? That time Marinette ‘pushed you down the stairs’? All of that becomes just as real.”

“I can lie my way out of it,” she said. “All they’ll say is that I have quite a Miraculous recovery rate!”

“And what if you lie about something more?” she asked. “Lying about your own injuries is one thing, but what about other people? One slip of the tongue, trying to get out of a meeting by saying your mother is in the hospital, and suddenly she is! Can you forgive yourself for causing that, even if you can fix it?”

Oh. There was a flinch of guilt there. Her face didn’t show it, but it was clear to Monarch. That was a weak point. She could use it.

“That assumes you even care about your mother,” Monarch said.

“Of course I care about her,” Volpina snapped.

“Sure seems like you don’t,” she said. “You’d have to lie to her to make any of your stories plausible. What did you tell her to let you out of school for months, since we both know you didn’t go to Achu?”

“School was closed for Akumas,” she replied.

“So you admit to manipulating your own mother!” she said. “How do you think she’ll react when she has the Agreste lawyers knocking on her door? Or when the school finds out you weren’t in Achu? Maybe her bosses will believe your lies about traveling, and fire her for abusing Embassy money. Perhaps child protective services will believe that she’s dragging you all over the world, putting you in danger and ruining your education.”

That shard of guilt grew bigger. It also increased her determination. If she loses here, it’s all over. There’s no second chance at her lies or the Miraculous.

Right as Volpina went to strike again, there was a beeping sound. The flute disappeared from her hands, orange light passing harmlessly through Monarch’s body. The girl stumbled as the Magic drained out of her.

“You’re not an Akuma right now,” Monarch said. “You forgot about your time limit.”

In the time it took Lila to process that, Alya had already thrown her top again. The liar was tangled and caught, then tied to a lamp post for good measure. Monarch picked up the sheath to her sword, putting it away and leaning on the cane once more. 

“Think she’ll cause any more trouble?” Alya asked.

“No,” Monarch said. “Not right now.”

Honestly, the girl was in shock. Realizing that she’d lost so thoroughly and completely, and knew that soon enough it would all crash around her, it had her frozen in disbelief. Even if she had the willpower to try and wriggle out of her bonds, she couldn’t. The perks of having a magic top with an unbreakable cord.

Even so, Alya was cautious when taking the Fox Miraculous from around Lila’s neck. The tired Kwami floating over to sit in her hand.

“Glad to see you, Kit,” Trixx said.

“Me too,” Alya said. “Sorry I can’t get you a snack right now and- hey!”

She caught Monarch as she stumbled. Monarch’s vision blurred for a minute as she shook her head.

“You’re burning up,” Alya said, her hand against Monarch’s face.

“You’re wearing gloves,” Monarch said.

“You might want to lay down,” Trixx said. “How many Akumas did you make?”

“I lost count,” she said. “Fifteen maybe?”

That was not a good expression he made. Trixx whispered something to Alya and she made a similar face. Then she retracted her top from around Lila.

“Venom!”

Before Lila even registered the fact that she was free, she was frozen in place. It was probably overkill, but it was good to be cautious.

“You’re on a timer too now,” Monarch said.

“I’ll deal with that in a minute,” Alya said. “Right now I’m taking you home. I knew handling that many Akumas was dangerous but if you die on me I swear to fuck-“

“I won’t die,” she protested.

“You’re very close to passing out,” Trixx said. “If you do then my Kit is taking the Butterfly from you so you don’t get any worse.”

“I can handle it,” she muttered. “I have to.”

“You don’t,” Alya said. “If you’re trying to prove yourself or something, then you don’t have to.”

Monarch didn’t reply to that.

“That is what you’re doing, isn’t it?” Alya asked. “Look. You’ve done plenty to prove that you’re a Hero. You became Queen Bee. You fought off Hawkmoth. And as Monarch, you helped put this to an end. I’ve read plenty of superhero media, and trust me, you qualify as a Superhero.”

“More of a vigilante,” Monarch said.

“Okay, Batman,” she rolled her eyes. “We’re taking you home.”

Before Monarch could protest, Alya had picked her up over her shoulder. There was a half-hearted effort to tell her to put her the hell down, but her energy was far too low to do much.

She’d been carried through the city by the Heroes before, so the speed and height didn’t bother her too much. Though Alya was a little careless, wanting to get to the hotel before her transformation ran out.

Thanks to the bumpy ride, they still had a minute before the transformation dropped. It gave her enough time to bicker with Monarch about actually putting her in the bed. They settled for sitting on the couch as her transformation fell.

As soon as Pollen was corporeal again, she flitted over to Monarch. Sitting on her shoulder and nuzzling against her cheek. Alya handed over the Bee Miraculous too, putting the Fox around her neck.

Monarch had wondered if the Akuma part would be affected by Alya detransforming, especially as the Butterfly had entered into the weapon that was now nonexistent, but it seemed to stick. She still had her ‘accessories’ of the cloak, gauntlets, and silver circlet.

Toying with the energies, she found that it was still technically within the Bee Miraculous. Though she couldn’t destroy the Akumatized item without having Alya transform again, she could tell that she’d be able to recall the Butterfly from it. Good.

“You’re doing great, My Queen,” Pollen said.

“Of course I am,” Monarch said. “You’re probably hungry though. That’s what room service is for. You two want anything?”

“Something with berries!” Trixx answered.

“I’ll take whatever,” Alya said.

Monarch flipped open her weapon’s communicator, accessing the phone and going to the contact number for the hotel’s room service. She ordered honey for Pollen, a blackberry parfait for Trixx, and a large snack platter for her and Alya. She even remembered to order a few fruit juices, for Nooroo to have after she detransformed.

It didn’t take long for it to be delivered. Monarch attempted to answer the door, but as soon as she moved to get up, Alya shot her a look and she sat back down. It definitely confused the staff member who delivered it.

Right as Monarch was wondering how Trixx was going to use a spoon, the tiny fox jumped in face-first. At least Pollen had enough grace to use a small toothpick to lick her treat like a popsicle.

Food helped her feel less shaky. Though Monarch still didn’t feel like doing much, she at least knew she wasn’t about to pass out anymore.

Right when she began to think about pulling up some entertainment on the tv, her cane lit up and began ringing. Which was a strange sentence to say.

Alya leaned over close as Monarch flipped open the top. Caller ID said it was coming from Ladybug’s communicator. Picking up the call had her face fill the screen.

“You two okay over there?” Ladybug asked.

“Ran into some trouble with the Fake Fox,” Alya said, toying with her Miraculous. “Nothing we couldn’t handle.”

“She’s not even good enough to be your fake,” Monarch said.

“Do you mean that, or were you making a Sonic reference?” she asked.

“I’m guessing that the fight’s over on your end?” she said, ignoring the question.

“We’ve come to an agreement,” Ladybug said. “We’re negotiating a little. Not that there’s much room for negotiation.”

“Negotiate to give Adrien some free time,” Alya said. “Or else I’m gonna pop on over and kick Gabriel’s ass again.”

“It’s on the list,” she laughed. “He’ll have more free time anyway without the whole Superhero thing.”

“So how are you dealing with Gabriel?” Monarch asked. “Do you want to keep this quiet, or are you dropping his ass at the police station?”

There was obvious confliction on her face. Her gaze went to something off-camera. Probably Adrien. With a sigh, she looked back to them.

“I’m leaving that up to Adrien,” Ladybug said. “Though you two already know what he’ll decide.”

“The boy’s too sweet for his own good,” Alya said.

“True,” Monarch agreed. “Smart too. He knows the media well, and that if they find out about this, then he’ll never escape it.”

“One of the many reasons I let him decide,” Ladybug said. “Though I don’t know how to deal with that. We weren’t exactly subtle when marching through Paris. I suppose we could make something up and have an exclusive interview on the Ladyblog…”

“Already on it!” Alya said. “You want to call this the final battle, or use Monarch here to stage a few fights to redirect suspicion?”

“Actually,” Monarch said. “I already thought about that.”

Oh that was a familiar look. Suspicious. Some things didn’t change. Other things did. As suspicious as they were, it wasn’t a ‘what are you planning you evil harpy?’ suspicious. Just an ‘oh no this is going to be a headache’ suspicious.

“Miracle Champion has one more power,” Monarch said. “I built it in specifically for this.”

“I thought I felt something else,” Alya said. “Didn’t want to test it out yet.”

“What exactly does it do?” Ladybug asked.

“A variant on her time as Oblivio with a little Lady Wifi tossed in,” Monarch explained. “Memory wipe and erasing any footage. Just of the last hour or so of Miraculous shenanigans. No one will remember the army of Akumas or have video to discover later.”

“Can I be specific on who gets zapped?” Alya wondered. “Erasing memories from our team would kinda defeat the purpose.”

“Don’t worry,” she said. “People who have either used the Miraculous or are currently under an Akuma’s spell, like our classmates, will remember.”

“Should I be concerned that you worked in something that specific?” Ladybug asked.

“As long as I’m on your side, no,” she laughed. “You do your Miraculous Cure thing first, so people don’t notice the wave of Magic fixing things after the wipe. And make sure everyone else is firmly on the ground when I recall Miracle Champion’s Butterfly. Wouldn’t want Kim to get stuck on a chandelier. Again.”

“Should I even ask?” Alya sighed.

“Ugh,” Ladybug groaned. “School dance. Dare gone wrong. That’s all you need to know really.”

The call was ended, and within a few minutes Ladybug’s Miraculous Cure was sweeping through the city. Once that was over, Alya stood up and gathered her own Magic.

This time, it was a wave of pink and purple that washed over Paris. When that dissipated, it only took a quick search online to make sure it had worked. Some people noticed, as livestreams were up showing nothing except confused streamers wondering why they were recording. They could deal with that bit of confusion later.

Monarch recalled her Butterfly, letting Alya drop back to the couch without any of her bonus powers. The white Butterfly flitted about, then flew out the open balcony doors.

“See you around, little butterfly,” Monarch said.

Without being connected to around fifteen Akumas, the drain on her Magic wasn’t as bad. She still felt very tired, but she wasn’t still using the energy. Her transformation dropped, and Alya moved forward to catch her. While she didn’t need it, Chloé was glad for the offer.

Nooroo was immediately tackled by Trixx when they reappeared. Pollen too.

“I’m… going to go take a nap,” Chloé said, walking toward her bed. “You can figure out how to leave. Take the elevator. Or have Rena Rouge jump off the balcony. Or stay I guess. Maybe we can get the group together for some kinda ‘hey we saved the day’ party later. We have a ballroom. I just need to sleep for like an hour.”

Chloé didn’t stay awake to hear her response.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know most people write Lila as not caring about anyone, even her mother, because she's a total fuck. But tbh? I like the idea of that being a weakpoint for her. I could go in-depth on headcanons surrounding that, but this isn't the time. 
> 
> That said! Hawkmoth is defeated, and some things are being negotiated. Mostly how to handle Emilie. But you know.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the finale!

When Chloé woke up, she was surprised to see that Pollen and Nooroo were still with her, curled up asleep on one of the many pillows. She was even more surprised to see Tikki sleeping on the same pillow. A cute trio of bugs cuddling together.

She got up, doing her best to not disturb them. Checking her phone showed a few texts said that the entire class had apparently gotten to skip school, with Ladybug having popped in to the principal’s office to explain some things. Good. They deserved the break.

Although, it was late enough in the day that they’d be out of class anyway. Wow it was late. She’d been asleep for a whole day. And could probably lay down and go back to sleep if she wanted. But she had a feeling that Tikki didn't wander far from her Chosen.

Walking out to the main area of the suite, she found Marinette on the couch. Sketching something or other.

“What are you doing here?” Chloé asked.

“Keeping an eye on you,” Marinette said. “Good morning by the way.”

“It’s afternoon,” she said. “Almost evening. And I don’t need a babysitter.”

“You nearly passed out from Magic use,” she said. “I’ve been there. It’s not fun. And considering what happened to Adrien’s mom, I wanted to make sure we don’t have two of you to fix.”

As much as Chloé wanted to make a snarky comment, she focused on what Marinette had said. Instead, she sat down on the opposite side of the couch.

“What… did happen,” Chloé asked. “With Emilie. Since all this happened, I don’t think she just ‘disappeared’ anymore. But if she was just dead…”

“Magic burnout,” Marinette said. “She and Gabriel found the Butterfly and Peacock Miraculous years ago. They hadn’t realized the Peacock was broken. It made it so she couldn’t properly recover her Magic Energy after using it. And eventually, she fell asleep. Gabriel’s kept her alive, but he couldn’t wake her up.”

“Oh,” she said. “But she- you can fix that, right?”

“I can,” she said. “It’ll take some time. A few days of work, so I’m going to have to take time off class to do that. But she should recover.”

“That’s- that’s good,” she said, wiping at the tears forming in her eyes. “I don’t think I can process that right now. The idea of her coming back. After more than a year of her having ‘disappeared’ I started to think that she was just- that we wouldn’t find her, just her body. I’m still mad at Gabriel for all of this, but one of the things that pisses me off most is that he didn't just tell us.”

“Adrien feels the same,” she said. “Though one of the ‘conditions’ for not handing Gabriel over to the cops is that all of them go to a therapist, so they should be finding a healthy way to work all this out.”

“Speaking of working things out,” she said. “You and Adrien’s little lovesquare…”

That got her turning red and hiding her face. A classic Marinette reaction. Chloé decided to not torture the poor girl by pointing out that her crush regularly wears tight leather, and she could spend time appreciating his ‘assets’.

“We-we’re trying to figure that out,” Marinette admitted. “The whole ‘lovesquare’ is a headache. Everyone was right about us falling for each other twice and making excuses not to see it. For me, it was both loyalty to Adrien and the fact that with Chat, it was dangerous to date as Heroes. Not to mention difficult to do without revealing identities.”

“And Adrien was too oblivious to realize he was in love with you,” Chloé said. “He always said you were ‘just a very good friend’.”

“Not completely oblivious, apparently,” she sighed. “He went on and on about how he thought he was projecting Ladybug on me. Because everything I did that made him fall for me reminded him of, well, me. So obviously he didn’t like ‘Marinette’ like that, I just reminded him of ‘Ladybug’. Which is why he went for Kagami instead when I rejected him.”

“How’s she handling the rejection, by the way?” she wondered.

“It’s not full rejection yet,” she said. “Your little rant about the ‘start a harem’ thing got stuck in our heads.”

Chloé laughed at that. A little too loud, apparently, as the Kwami suddenly flew into the room. Seeing that there wasn’t any danger, they settled down. Tikki sat on Marinette’s head, while Pollen and Nooroo both took Chloé’s shoulders.

A round of yawns reminded her that she was still tired. And hungry. Very hungry. Like ‘eat an entire pizza and also a side of breadsticks’ hungry.

Right when Chloé was about to offer to call room service again, she felt Marinette’s emotions drop. A wave of guilt nearly smacked her in the face. She wanted to ask, but figured that even with the excuse of the Butterfly Miraculous, peeking into someone’s emotions would be considered ‘rude’.

“About Kagami,” Marinette said. “I’m sorry for that. For choosing her to fight yesterday instead of you. Alya told me what you said. She wanted to ask me why I picked Kagami when you both were supposed to be benched.”

“I get it,” Chloé shook her head. “At the time I was mad but you probably had some plan that involved the Dragon Miraculous.”

“I didn’t,” she sighed. “I just- How do I say ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ without it sounding like a dumb line?”

“Explain it?” she suggested.

“Right,” she said. “Choosing Kagami wasn’t about not trusting you. I wanted to trust you. Bringing out Queen Bee again was my first choice. Venom would’ve helped take down Love Eater in a heartbeat. But I got scared and panicked.”

“Because of me?” she wondered.

“Because of Kagami and Adrien,” she sighed. “I was trying to give up on him. Because I thought the ‘girl he was in love with’ was her, not… Ladybug. But when I left them alone to fight the Akuma, I panicked. I chose her to get her away from Adrien.”

“That’s a dick move,” she said. “I mean, as the queen of dick moves, I approve. But I’m kinda trying to be nicer sometimes so I think I’m supposed to not encourage that.”

“I know,” she said. “Kagami’s mad at me about it, but she also understands that she might’ve done the same thing if she'd been in my situation. Though not mad enough to not be thinking of your comments on our love life because she pointed out that while I got her away from Adrien, I also got Adrien away from her. So thanks for that!”

“It’s just the truth, really,” she shrugged. “You three and Rockstar were just radiating love in each other’s directions. It was almost as nauseating as Rose and Juleka making doe eyes at each other. And don’t get me started on what it feels like to have an Akuma flirt with you while directly mind linked to them because that’s just so much!”

“What are you-“ she shook her head. “Right. Empathy is a power of the Butterfly.”

“No wonder Gabriel was a dick if he had to deal with this,” she said, fiddling with the brooch still pinned to her shirt. “Oh. I just realized I’m wearing the same thing I put on yesterday morning. Gross. And I haven’t showered. Fuck my makeup is probably a mess. I won’t even need a mask to hide my identity I could just use my smudged eyeliner.”

That helped break the tension a little. At the very least it distracted Marinette from her own guilt. She actually seemed fairly… comfortable here. Not completely relaxed, understandably. But more comfortable than Chloé ever expected her to be in her presence.

She was still fiddling with the Miraculous pinned to her shirt. Suddenly it felt heavy. As did the Bee Miraculous still in her hair. Both Kwami seemed to tense up, wondering what she was thinking.

With a deep breath, she took both off. Still holding them tight in her hands, she leaned her head to affectionately nuzzle both Kwami in turn. Then, she held out both Miraculous to Marinette.

“I know you want these back,” Chloé said. “Thanks for letting me say goodbye instead of just taking them while I was knocked out.”

“Now that would be a dick move,” she said.

Marinette reached forward and took the Butterfly. Though Nooroo didn’t leave Chloe’s shoulder. Not yet. She couldn’t sense their emotions anymore, but it seemed like they were saying ‘I won’t leave until I have to'.

In truth, Chloé didn’t want them to leave. But that wasn’t her decision to make.

When reaching for the Bee Miraculous, Marinette hesitated. After a moment, she took Chloé’s hand and closed it around the hair comb before gently pushing it back. All Chloé could do is stare at her, trying to figure out what she was thinking.

“I don’t want to take Pollen away from you,” Marinette said. “And I know I can trust you to hold onto the Bee Miraculous. Be responsible with it. And don’t let anyone outside of our team know you have it.”

“Our team?” Chloé asked.

“I have ideas,” she admitted. “Hawkmoth might be gone, but there will be other threats. And keeping the responsibility on just me was… really starting to wear down my mental health. Like, seriously. If you hadn’t come running up with the Butterfly Miraculous I probably would’ve snapped and had a breakdown.”

“Good timing I guess?” she said, unsure how to respond. “But I don’t think keeping a secret identity will last if Queen Bee is running around again.”

“Which brings me to one of the conditions for letting you keep it,” she said. “You can change how the costume looks. Alter the patterns a little, choose a different hair style, pick a new name. After that, all we need is a few tricks from Rena Rouge to have you and the new Bee in the same place.”

“That’s actually brilliant,” she frowned. “Assuming the Glamour enchantment works.”

“You know about the Glamour enchantment?” she asked.

“I did ask Pollen questions when I first met her,” she said. “I had to ask how no one connected the dots between Adrien and Chat despite both of them being plastered over Paris. He even voiced himself in that movie.”

“Ugh,” she groaned. “Don’t remind me of the movie.”

“We all want to forget it,” she said. “Are there any other ‘conditions’ to this deal?”

“Just that you continue to work on being nicer,” she said. “You’ve made some progress but-“

“But I’m still Queen Bitch,” she mused. “I’ll work on it. The last two days have been a bit of a wakeup call, I guess.”

“A wakeup call?” she repeated.

Chloé went to fiddle with the Butterfly Miraculous again, forgetting that it was no longer attached to her shirt. Instead, she wound up messing with her hair. She’d have to hide the Bee Miraculous a little better, but for now, it felt calming to have it on her still.

“Gabriel’s plan,” Chloé said. “It hinged on me being enough of a selfish brat wanting the Bee Miraculous again, that I’d work with Hawkmoth. Not Gabriel, Hawkmoth. A man who’s motives and morals I didn’t know. For all I knew, he wanted to burn Paris to the ground, or take over the world as an evil dictator. And he thought that I would be stupid and selfish enough to help him.”

“I’m sorry,” Marinette said, having her own turn to be unsure of how to react.

“I’m going to give him hell for it later,” she said. “But for now, thanks. Thanks for- for giving me another chance. You really shouldn’t have. But you’re too nice.”

“I’d rather be too nice than write people off as irredeemable,” she said.

“Even Lila?” she asked.

“I honestly don’t know,” she said. “I think she might be able to change. If she gets some help from a decent therapist after the Agreste lawyers are done with her. But even if she does, I don’t think I’d ever be able to trust her.”

“But you’ll trust me?” she asked.

“You’re different,” she said. “Even at your worst, it was just petty insults and sabotage. It doesn’t make it okay, but it’s different than trying to make all my friends turn against me and convince them I’m a worse bully than you ever were.”

“I’m… to tired to process that one,” she rubbed her face.

“I don’t think any of us have fully processed the last two days,” she said. “On that note, since you seem to be recovering, I’ll let you and Pollen have time to yourself.”

“Thanks,” she said. “I’m still tired right now, but later I want to be in on whatever you have planned to fake taking Hawkmoth down. You’ll have to tell the public something.”

“We have a few ideas,” she said. “Right now the biggest thing is how to do it without giving the police someone to arrest.”

“Magic crimes are dealt with by Magic laws,” she said. “I’ll talk to my dad about that one. And about the idea of some sort of ‘we defeated Hawkmoth so let’s celebrate our Heroes’ gala event in the hotel’s ballroom.”

“A gala, really?” she asked.

“Get your sketchbook ready,” she grinned. “You’re going to want some fancy dress instead of your usual supersuit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God finally. I remember posting the fist chapter almost immediately after Love Eater/Heart Hunter and before Miracle Queen, because I was in so much denial and hoping that Chloé was somehow planning something like this. 
> 
> I'm still in denial. Miracle Queen didn't happen fuck you.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh boy. As mentioned in the tags, literally everyone else is going to show up later. Just need to get to them. This is going to have oddly short chapters, at least for me, but the way I wrote it feels better broken up into chapters than posted as a oneshot. 
> 
> That, and I want to throw it into the void before Miracle Queen comes out.


End file.
